Crimson
by fortitudo
Summary: From Ciel's perspective; originally intended to be her thoughts on Zero and the war with Neo Arcadia, but (probably) turned into something else along the way.


If she was being honest with herself, Ciel would have said she was lonely, depressed even. The keywords being "would have." Alouette had always been her safe haven, her place to go to when she needed to escape the brutality and endless stress of the war with Neo Arcadia, which could hardly be called a "war" at all. But the small Reploid child could only provide momentary comfort, and children did not win wars. The cause had seemed all but lost, and the Resistance desperate, until she and her small team of soldiers had stumbled upon that abandoned laboratory. Zero had then entered the picture, and had managed to single handedly turn the tide for the Resistance, for which she was both extremely thankful and forever indebted. Not only that, but she was also incredibly lucky.

With his memories gone, he had no anchor in the world he had currently found himself in, and was therefore the perfect material for which to mold the perfect living weapon, should he have been awoken by the wrong hands. This became alarmingly clear when he had agreed to help the Resistance, no questions asked. He had not once questioned her motives or morals, only responded with action and impeccable results, and had done his utmost to protect her and see her to safety when he had not even known his own name. Perhaps this was why she was drawn to him, that even without memories of his past and the life he had led, he had such a strong moral compass that had never once faltered. His wholehearted belief in her and the Resistance's cause was nothing to balk at either. He quickly became her pillar of both emotional and moral support, which he had seemed to gladly accept and in turn had looked to her for the same, albeit in his own way.

While Zero was clearly built for combat, his lack of memories and increasingly glaring lack of any knowledge of social graces had often left him confused and lost, and Ciel quickly found herself the subject of an almost endless stream questions when they both actually had time to spare, much to her amusement. She did not mind really, as it meant he was not just "along for the ride", but was eager and willing to learn about the current situation and era he had found himself in.

The transition from comrades-in-arms to friends was hardly noticeable and she had been surprised, to say the least, when rumors had begun to spread around the Resistance Base that it was "more than that," which Alouette would never, _ever_ let her hear the end of. Zero had not seemed to care at all or had likely not even noticed, since he had only ever left his quarters to visit Old Andrew, Alouette, and Cerveau a handful of times and spent a majority of his time discussing a multitude of topics with Ciel. Even then, he continued to astound her. To her bemusement, he could not only understand her current research project, but was able to give her more than helpful feedback on the problems she had spent days figuratively smashing her head against a wall over, and could not give a proper answer on how exactly he had come up with such a solution.

As they became closer, she had caught herself picking up more details than she would have suspected about his behavior and his interactions with her. The Mask, as she had come to call it, was no longer up in her presence or at least as often as it was before and he had come to allow himself to smile at her half hearted attempts at humor. He too, had picked up a few things himself and had a uncanny way of quietly showing up just when she was at her lowest, more often than not when the loss of an ally was involved. He had quickly discovered she knew every Resistance member by name, and treated each and every one of them as a close, long time friend. Each loss to their ranks was devastating, although she never let it show. She appreciated his form of comfort enormously, and with simply a gentle squeeze on the shoulder and all of her resolve would crumble. He never said a word, and merely let her cry herself out, which either resulted in sleep or an overwhelming sense of relief, for which she would be eternally grateful. She had not even let Alouette see her in such a state; the girl already had too much to worry about it as it was.

Yes, to say Ciel was lonely would be a complete and utter lie. She had found both her solution to the conflict and a life-long friend, if not something more. She was definitely not lonely anymore.


End file.
